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The holidays are the most likely time to experience sadness and depression. Family and friends share their love with us, and we get lots of gifts. So why aren't we overjoyed?
The answer lies in the lyrics of the famous Pink Floyd song Another Brick in the Wall: "If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding."
To understand this, you need only look in your own backyard. Look at the shrubs, tangled with vines, or the trees jetting through the forest canopy for want of more sunlight. In an effort to maintain themselves, I have known willows near the foundation to break into the cellar pipes for want of water.
What is a tree, after all, but a trunk with so many roots and leaves bringing food and water to the organism? After billions of years of evolution, it was inevitable that life would acquire the ability to locomote, to hunt and see, to protect itself from competitors. Observe the ants in the woodpile. They can engage in combat just as resolutely as any human. Our guns and ICBMs are merely the jaws of a more clever ant.
The goal of life is life. Even our emotions are devices developed towards that end. We hunt and gather, do the dishes, and have sex. By day and night, we are serenaded by the notes of Beethoven modulating over the trump of the bullfrogs and the songs of the mating bird. Even poetry and art reflect our humanity and are impelled by instincts — by forms of fear and powerlessness, of pugnacity and mastery, of association and love.
To many creatures there are but a few necessities of life: food, water, shelter. To a bumblebee, these are a few flowers full of nectar. Even humankind is led by these primary drives, although we have invented not only the house and clothing but fire to cook our food. And what pains we take during the holidays, with our mincemeat pies and rum cakes.
Of course, the effort for self-preservation is vague and varied. There is, for instance, the need for understanding and knowledge to guide our emotions. Our behaviors are motivated by needs and wants. Pleasure and pain consist in the extent to which these desires are satisfied or hindered.
"Pleasure" according to Spinoza, one of the greatest philosophers of all time "is man's transition from a lesser state of perfection to a greater. Pain is man's transition from a greater state of perfection to a lesser."
Have you ever wondered why every TV show, movie, and book has villains? Every writer knows that the good guy has to be threatened somehow, perhaps chased by someone with a gun or an ax. Even Cinderella had an evil stepmother and had to sit in the cinders after she finished her work. Meeting the Prince just wouldn't have been the same if she had been a spoiled little rich girl. The keenest pleasures are for those who experience the keenest pain.
The holiday blues are money in the bank. So remember, if you eat your meat now, you can have your pudding later.
You can visit my websites at www.robertlanza.com and www.robertlanzabiocentrism.com
